1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a technique for controlling an action game which causes a player to experience action in simulation, accompanying input of an instruction concerning the movement of a sphere, from the vicinity of a character displayed as an entity in the game space, to a prescribed location.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, competitive games are known in which a player competes with the CPU, or two players compete, at baseball, soccer, or some other sport in simulation, in a game space. Such competitive games are controlled by a single game device; players issue instructions to characters in the game space by pressing operating buttons on a prescribed controller, accompanied by display on a single display device connected to the game device.
In such game devices in which baseball competitions are held between two players, the game progress is controlled in such a manner that one player can specify, for each pitch, that a pitcher character in a game space mimicking a baseball ground throw a curve, forkball, or other pitch. Thereafter, game progress is controlled such that, based on these pitch specifications, the ball is displayed while moving from near the pitcher character toward the batter in the vicinity of home base (hereafter this may be referred to as pitch display processing), and the player who is the competitive opponent can instruct the batter character to swing the bat according to this display of the ball.
More specifically, in such competitive games, a plurality of operating buttons on the controller are associated with the plurality of pitch types which may be specified at the time the pitcher character pitches; and, one or more pitch types which can be pitched are set in advance for a single pitcher character. For example, the program can be set such that when the xe2x80x9cDownxe2x80x9d portion of a cross-shape button on the controller is depressed, the pitch thrown is a forkball. If the pitcher character, having received the pitch specification, is able to throw a forkball (whether this is possible or not is set in advance), then control is executed such that the prescribed pitch display processing is performed for a forkball pitch; if the pitcher character is not able to throw a forkball, the player is prompted to specify a pitch other than a forkball, accompanied by a display of the pitcher character shaking his head or by a similar gesture.
By this means, in conventional game devices, the player can specify pitch types according to the pitching capability of the pitcher character.
On the other hand, game systems are known in which a single competitive game is advanced by associating two character groups, competing in a game space, with two portable game devices (and with the players operating same), with the game system connected to the two portable game devices to send and receive the necessary data. These portable game devices have separate display units and operating buttons, and when playing against an opposing player, are designed such that the state of input to operating buttons, accompanied by display on the display units, remains concealed.
However, in the competitive games of conventional game devices such as described above, different magnitudes of change in the ball trajectory are associated with different pitches; and although the player can select among pitches which can be thrown by the pitcher character, mistaken instructions may be input due to an erroneous understanding of the pitch type and change in trajectory, and such mistaken input may influence the result of the baseball game, thereby detracting from the amusement afforded by the competitive game overall.
In particular, when using a portable game device such as described above, the display and operating button input on a player""s device is concealed from the other player who is the opponent, and so a simpler method of display and input is desired.
This invention was devised in light of these considerations. An object of this invention is to provide a computer-readable recording media recorded with an action game program, an action game control device and method, and an action game program which can prevent erroneous input on the event of input of instructions by the player, which are likely to change according to the state of a character""s abilities, while providing the player with a firm grasp of the state of abilities of the character.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a computer-readable recording media recording an action game program which causes a game player to experience action in simulation, the action game program comprising the steps of: reading ability data including a plurality of abilities of the game character regarding movement of the ball; controlling trajectory of the ball according to the ability data; displaying the ball as it moves while changing the trajectory and icons corresponding to said plurality of abilities of the game character to control the movement of the ball; and allowing the game player to select one of said icons to input instruction relating to said movement of the ball.
In this action game program, icons corresponding to each of a plurality of abilities of a character which controls the motion of the ball, stored in memory in advance, are displayed based on ability data.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description along with the accompanied drawings.